“Everyone says to me, “Trust
God”. That’s easy for them to say. I believe in God and that He
created the universe and human beings and I even think He knows me intimately,
but what do you mean, 'Trust God'? Trust Him with what? To do what? I understand
that when I pray and ask God to help me, I hope that He hears me and I hope
that maybe He’ll see things my way…and maybe grant me what I ask
Him…but I learned long ago…that He doesn’t always answer
me, so I don’t expect too much from Him. Trust God? I’m trying.
I’m really trying. It’s just very hard.”

Trusting in God is one of the hardest things to do as a Christian.
Life seems like a mystery and as we observe life around us…sometimes
we wonder if God is even involved with us at all. It’s not easy to believe
and trust Him with everything going on with us.
Is He REALLY listening?
We want to believe in Him, but why is it so hard?

Trusting
in God is vital to our spiritual lives, yet our faith is so weak. If we only
knew the amazing way that the Lord would open up to us if we would just open
up to Him in belief. And the Lord has done an interesting thing…the
more we trust in Him…the more He rewards us and reveals Himself to us.
But when we doubt Him and don’t have faith, nothing ever happens. He
doesn’t try to prove Himself or surprise us with a revelation to show
us that we’re wrong.
You see the point is…it’s all up to you.
If you don’t believe that God will do much for you…
then guess what…He pretty much won’t.
You’re life will likely stay the same old way for a long time.
But if you trust in God to come and make your life new…
be ready for Him to come in like gang busters.
It’s very exciting.
Do you want to see miracles? You need to believe in miracles.
Do you want to see God move in your life.
You have to trust Him to move in your life.
It is simple…yet very, very hard.
God asks the hardest thing from us…to suspend our common sense, close
our eyes to everything around us, put aside our knowledge of earthly reality
and logic…and TRUST HIM.
Yes, trust Him to be REAL!

“WELL,
I’VE TRIED IT AND NOTHING HAPPENS!”

Well
guess what? Something is happening.
God wants to see if you will still trust Him even if your prayers don’t
turn out the way you want. He is trying to help us grow in our faith, and
in order to do that He continues to raise the bar little bits at a time. As
we grow spiritually, He asks us to believe more, and when things become difficult…He
wants us to believeEVEN MORE.
God is not a genie or Santa Claus. He really can’t be manipulated to
do just anything you want. There is no formula, or button you can push for
God to perform tricks for you. Many prayers require submission, humility and
obedience. And most prayers can only be answered when we participate and become
active in our situation rather than just waiting for something to happen.
Yes, God wants us to get off our butt.

You see, He has His plans and we have ours and they are usually VERY different.
God DOES have a mind of His own, and of course we are disappointed when we
don’t receive the answers we are looking for. But do we still believe?
Do we doubt Him? Do we doubt ourselves?

After
a prayer seemed to go unanswered…did you decide that God could not be
trusted after all and gave up, having doubts again? God wants you to trust
Him and keep on trusting Him. He may not have answered your prayer right away
and He may never answer your prayers the way you want, but do you still believe
and trust Him to do what is best?

This
is the key: Belief and trust...and keep on trusting
regardless of what is going on around you, even if things seem hopeless.
But God is real and is very aware of what is going on with you,
and He knows that most of the time you doubt Him.
But He does desire that you take that one leap of faith to trust Him with
your life. And when you take that leap, He is finally able to wrap His arms
around you. Jesus asks us to have faith as a little child.
But as adults, our past disappointments have corrupted us.
We need to go back to that place where we have unquestioning faith and believe
as a child. And what does that mean? It means you have to:

Relinquish
your mind’s control over all situations.
Take your hands off and let go of your fear & unbelief.
Stop trying to figure things out.
TRUST GOD TO WORK

The
hardest thing for us to do is release our faith.
When we truly trust the Lord with our hearts, we finally give Him permission
and freedom to minister to us without us getting in His way.
He won’t force anything on us. But we must let go completely.
By NOT trusting Him…we are retaining our control over our situations.
But because of our limits as human beings, we really have no control anyway.
Rather than telling God exactly what you think you need for yourself, ask
Him to do what is best for you (Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done) and trust
that whatever happens is what He wants for you for this time, and follow the
Holy Spirit’s leading.
God wants to give you a full and abundant life, but He only asks for you to
believe in Him. The Lord can then make you the person He wants you to be,
a person of true faith. Trust Him to be REAL! “Trust in the LORD forever, for the
LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal.” - Isaiah 26:4 NIV